A guide for parents and carers on admissions to Secondary School

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDSWhat are special educational needs(SEN)?A child has special educational needs (SEN)if he/she has greater difficulty in learningthan most other children of about the sameage. A child’s SEN may be caused by learningdifficulties, behavioural, emotional <strong>and</strong>social difficulties, speech, language <strong>and</strong>communication needs, visual or hearingimpairment or physical disabilities.Many children have learning difficulties atsome time in their education. These areoften temporary <strong>and</strong> are usually dealt withby the school.How can schools help?The Council delegates money intomainstream schools’ budgets to provideextra help <strong>for</strong> pupils with SEN. If a child isidentified as having special educationalneeds, the school will set up an individuallearning plan (IEP) which will set targets thatare reviewed regularly with you. This mayinclude extra help from a teacher or learningsupport assistant individual or small-groupteaching <strong>for</strong> short periods. The level of helpwill be matched to your child’s needs <strong>and</strong>you will be kept in<strong>for</strong>med at each stage ofthe process. Sometimes, the school will callon the help <strong>and</strong> advice of an educationalpsychologist or another professional.Children with statements of SENIn most cases schools will ensure that yourchild gets all the help he/she needs. A fewchildren will have more significant <strong>and</strong> longtermneeds. These children may require aStatutory Assessment of their needs, whichmay lead to the child having a Statement ofSpecial Educational Needs. This explains howthese needs are to be met. Most childrenwith Statements of SEN attend their localschool <strong>and</strong> receive extra help there.However a child with a statement may needto attend a special school or a mainstreamschool with additional facilities <strong>for</strong> particulardifficulties such as hearing impairment,physical difficulties, autistic spectrumdisorder, specific learning difficulties,emotional <strong>and</strong> behavioural difficulties orspeech <strong>and</strong> language difficulties. If you thinkyour child needs to attend a school with thisspecialist support you cancontact the Council’s Special EducationalNeeds Team to find out which schoolsprovide this support.If you are concerned about your child’sprogress, you should speak to his/herteacher. The school will have a publishedpolicy on identifying <strong>and</strong> supporting pupilswith special educational needs, which youcan ask to see.Transfer to Secondary SchoolIf your child has a current statement ofspecial educational needs <strong>and</strong> attends amainstream primary school or a specialresource in a mainstream primary school, hisor her future placement must be consideredas part of the annual review of thestatement <strong>and</strong> you will be part of thosediscussions.In most cases it should be possible to giveclear recommendations in Year 5 as to thetype of schooling that your child will needat the secondary stage. Very rarely, a child’sneeds may change after the Year 5 review tosuch a great extent that the type of schoolmay need to be reconsidered. This shouldtake place through an interim or early Year 6review.71If you have any queries please contact the Admissions Team on 0118 937 2550 or email: admissions.team@reading.gov.ukApply online at www.reading.gov.uk/schooladmissions